TRIBAL MEMBER NEWS
PV2 Abraham
Lawney Staggs
Dalton Staggs
Plays in State
Hockey Tourney
Military Police, U.S. Army
4,h Infantry
by your Aunties Cheryl, Sue, Julie,
and Connie
We would like to express how
proud we are of your willingness to
fight for our country and freedom.
Thank you so very much for going and
fighting for our country and the
freedom we all enjoy as Americans.
Your name has been placed on
several prayer lists. We pray daily for
your safety, strength, and courage.
Abe is the son of Kenneth Staggs
and grandson of Charles (Chuck) and
Gladys (Tom) Staggs.
Our prayers for you daily - Psalms
91: God’s protecting power over you;
and Psalms 91:10-11: There shall no
evil befall thee, neither shall any plague
come nigh thy dwelling, for he shall
give his angels charge over thee, to keep
thee in all thy ways.
We know the only way home is
through Baghdad and we can’t wait
until you’re home safe. See you soon.
Our love and prayers are with you.
PV2 Abraham Lawney Staggs
by your Aunties Cheryl, Sue, Julie,
and Connie
We would like to let Dalton Staggs
know how proud we are of him and
what a great athlete he is. Dalton is a
Siletz Tribal member and lives in
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He’s the son of
Kenneth Staggs and grandson of Charles
(Chuck) and Gladys (Tom) Staggs.
Dalton is a member of the
Mountain Youth Hockey Association
(MYHA) in Spokane, Wash.
He went to Boise, Idaho, in
February to compete with “rep” teams at
their state tournament and did well for
his first year. Dalton plays defense in
the Bantam Division (13-14 years old).
Heather “Shy”
Staggs-Rice
Receives
RN Degree
We love you, your Aunties Cheryl,
Sue, Julie, and Connie
We would like to say congratula
tions on receiving your RN degree
from North Idaho College. On May 15,
Shy will graduate as a licensed
registered nurse.
We realize all the hard work and
dedication it takes to accomplish this
with babies at home to care for.
Shy assisted our tribal members
when they had a car accident in Coeur
d’Alene, Idaho.
Congratulations, we are very proud
of you!
Duke Staggs Receives
Degree in Education
the Aunties Cheryl, Sue, Julie, and Connie
We are so proud of you on receiving your education degree from Boise State
College, Boise, Idaho. We know that you have worked long and hard for this.
Congratulations! Our love to you and your family.
Stay safe!
Walt’s Words of Wit and Wisdom
I’ve seen that some of the lunches have been disappearing. Now, this is truly
the victim’s fault. Anyone who is as good-looking as the makers of them lunches
must have good lunches. Just like I said before about them box socials, there’s no
answer to the remedy.
Long time ago, well to some anyway, when at home, my grandma used to
bake bread two or three times a week. It was really terrible having to eat homemade
bread all the time. Had to eat those big fluffy biscuits every morning. It was truly
child abuse (sure wish some would elder abuse me).
Now and then, my uncle would bring home store-bought bread. Boy, that was
like cake, it was good. Of course, we also had that home-churned butter. It was a
chore to sit there and twirl that thing until the cream became hard, then it was
called butter. Then some people would like to drink that leftover from the butter,
called buttermilk, but when my uncle brought bread he also bought butter. What
a treat - store-bought bread and store-bought butter.
Grandma always had a pail of milk on the stove over on the cooler side,
where cottage cheese was always in the making. Some of the family liked the
“whey.” Actually, I don’t think that we knew how to appreciate what we had.
We didn’t have refrigeration. All the meat was canned, well most of it. Some
would be salted down. It had to be soaked overnight to get some of the salt out. I
think that it was mostly pork.
Beef was stored in grease. A layer of beef hamburger, I think, was cooked
then covered with grease lard, then a layer of meat and a layer of lard. This was
our winter supply of meat. It was quite limited, however, because for the most
part the beef and hogs were for selling and the deer were for eating.
Vegetables were all canned. The smokehouse always had some bacon and
fish in it. The salmon were quite plentiful in the little creek that ran through the
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place and my uncle and neighbors would catch the good ones and smoke them.
The others would be used for fertilizer for the com patch.
Respect for Elders
We had to respect our elders. We could not call them by their first names.
Like our neighbor, I can’t remember his first name today, but us kids had to call
him Mr. Bemrose. Whoever we talked to had to be addressed as Mr. or Mrs.
Our relatives had to be addressed as aunt or uncle. In fact, I think everyone
was an aunt or uncle. Anyway, that way we couldn’t go wrong. If by chance we
did call someone by their first name, it was good for a backhand.
Later on in life, some of these people became the old man. The women always
were Miss or Mrs. Old man Bemrose was the father of the to be Bertha Lane.
They lived next door to where I was raised. Respect was required of all young
people that 1 was aware of, anyway.
My uncle didn’t particularly like Indians. I don’t know why, I was Indian.
When I had to have shoes, pants, or had to go to the doctor in Siletz at the
government infirmary on Government Hill, there used to be several Indian people
from Siletz who would come visit my uncle. I couldn’t figure out why. They
would stand out there by the garage and laugh, having a good time.
Today, I’ve figured out why. My uncle made moonshine and beer. I don’t
know to this day where the still was. I know he used to have three or four
10-gallon crocks with something brewing that I wasn’t to know about. I did get
into it one time, though, and the results were not so good.
Well, I could ramble on for four or five pages, but it probably wouldn’t be
appreciated. Take care.